Meetings don't happen when power is confident.
They happen when power wants to shape the record.
The notice went up before sunrise—clean font, neutral language, posted where eyes would find it without searching.
STAKEHOLDER ALIGNMENT SESSION — 9:00 AM
No agenda.
No names.
No promise of outcomes.
Arjun read it twice."Alignment with who?" he asked.
"With the version of events they want remembered," I said.
✦
The city arrived early anyway.
Not out of eagerness.
Out of instinct.
People who had stood the night before took positions near the edges of the posted space—close enough to hear, far enough to leave if the air turned stale. Volunteers came without badges. Drivers without schedules. Nurses without clipboards.
No one sat in the front row.
That mattered.
The other Ishaan aligned, voice low.
Meetings reassert hierarchy through seating, he said.Watch where they place themselves.
✦
